This week I have been thinking a lot about James: such a unique,  funny, smart, talented person and looking at the work he did in Minnesota. It ranges (pun intended) from the University LRT to his designs for the Mesabi Traihead in Virginia and Eveleth.  He was such a skilled teacher who changed so many of our lives. I am grateful that he and his love of life are part of mine.

I just discovered this big loss to Portland, to architecture and urban design. James was a dear friend and we shared many a meal and glass of wine together. After his stroke I would often pick him up from his waterfront condo and drop him back.  When I left as Portland's Chief Urban Designer, James gave me a cherished drawing (a giant print of a space ship barreling over a lush landscape). It hangs proudly in my living room so I get to remember him fondly every day.

James was an iconoclast and positive disruptor, never backing down from saying what he felt. Blunt, but exceedingly polite at the same time. I deeply admired his willingness to take on with his students issues and sites that needed attention despite their being inconvenient to the establishment. All part of his revolutionary and socialist bent I'm sure. In private he would open up about those who would not take him seriously, but that too he would be jovial about and laugh off with his signature deep and lusty laugh.

I will miss James' cheerful and light hearted disposition, his commitment to social good and urban design's role towards it. Most of all I will miss him as an advisor, colleague and dear friend.

We share in the loss of your loved one, James Pettinari. With our condolences,

Dena, Ava McCoy

Teaching and a Good Teacher

A good teacher is passionate about their subject. Jim was not only passionate, but he opened students eyes to a wider world through drawing. Drawing was his passion. In 1974, an ink on Mylar drawing hung in the window of his 4th floor office in Lawrence Hall at the University of Oregon. A multiengine, Star Wars inspired, spaceship crawled over the Willamette Valley with observers hanging below an impossibly massive superstructure. Looking back, that drawing scribbled out the power of perception, big vision and the language of lines. Jim was a colorful man who worked in black and white drawing and photography. Sadly, Jim's energy, commitment, fortitude to inspire students to think big, and find solutions to complex problems through mindful expression and drawing will be missed. I too will miss his long winded stories and wry sense of humor over a diluted glass of Barbera. My favorite quote is, "I love Burnside. You know it has just the right amount of grit."  And then he laughed that deep grumbling chuckle.

With the greatest respect and friendship
Lloyd D. Lindley II, FASLA, Adjunct Professor


My condolences to all of you who loved James too as we mourn his loss and remember him with a smile.
James was a delightful colleague: talented, funny, modest designer.  He added much to the Center for Changing Landscapes. All that had the privilege of working with him greatly valued the opportunity.  A terrific life!  I miss him greatly.
Hugs, 
Mary Vogel

OBITUARY

James Anthony Pettinari

February 20, 1942 – November 24, 2020

Zeller Chapel of the Roses

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